Sen. John Barrasso predicted Sunday there will be no "fiscal cliff" deal, in part because President Obama sees political gain in blaming the aftermath on the GOP.
Mr. Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, said on "Fox News Sunday" that the White House isn't interested in finding a solution to avoid having the American economy go over the "cliff" — the automatic tax increases and spending cuts that kick in in 2013 if Washington lawmakers can't reach a long-term budget deal.
Economists have said the new taxes, combined with government spending cuts, likely would trigger a new recession.
"I think the president is eager to go over the cliff for political purposes," Mr. Barrasso said. "I think he sees a political victory at the bottom of the cliff.
"He gets all this additional tax revenue for new programs; he gets to cut the military, which Democrats have been calling for for years, and he gets to blame Republicans for it," Mr. Barrasso said.
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David Eldridge joined The Washington Times in 1999 and over the next seven years helped lead the paper’s coverage of regional politics and government, Sept. 11, and the sniper attacks of 2002. In 2006, he was named managing editor of the paper’s Web site. He came to The Times from the Telegraph in North Platte, Neb., where he served as ...
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